Stamp-canceling machine.



W. 0. HUDDLESTON.

STAMP GANCELING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 6, 1910. I 1 ,Q46,] 90, Patented Dec.3,1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

W. C. HUDDLESTON.

STAMP GANGELING MACHINE. 7 APPLICATION FILED SE4PT. 6,1910.

2 slums-gins? 2.

WILLIAM C. HUDDLESTON, 0F BUTLER, KENTUCKY.

STAMP-CANCELING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 3, 1912.

Application filed September 6, '1910. Serial No. 580,624.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM C. HUDDLE- STON, a citizen of the United'States, and a resident of the town of Butler, in the county of Pendleton and State of Kentucky, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Stamp-Canceling Machines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification. 1

My invention relates to machines for the cancelation of postage stamps and for back stamping letters for use in post offices, and the object of my invention is to provide a simple, cheap and effective machine that shall not occupy very much space, and which can be readily attached to any ordinary table, and the invention consists of that certain novel-construction and arrangement of parts to be hereinafter particularly pointed out and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure l'is a plan view of my improved machine. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a transverse section taken on the lines 3, 3, of Fig. 1, looking to the left. Fig. 4 is a similar transverse section, taken on the lines 4, 4, of Fig. 1, looking ,to the right. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the spacer bar. Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the actuating bar for the spacer. Fig. 7 is an end elevation of the printing cylinder. Fig. 8 is a plan view, and Fig. 9 is a section of the type holding blocks.

The machine is mounted on a base plate 1, to which is secured a depending bracket '2 for mounting and holding the operating mechanism.

Secured lengthwise on the plate 1 by angle brackets 3, 3, is a vertical plate 4, and vertically mounted on the plate 1 and j ournaled in the brackets 5 and 6, bolted or otherwise secured to the plate 1, at either end, are the vertical shafts 7, 8, which carry respectively the vertically disposed pulleys 9 and 10, over which runs a flexible belt 11 of leather or other suitable material.

The pulley 9 is the idler pulley and the bracket 5 and the bearing plate 12 in which the shaft 7 is mounted are secured through slotted connections so that the belt may be properly tightened. The lower end of the shaft 8 passes throu h thebase plate 1 and is journaled in the iracket'2, and on this end a pinion 13 is mounted which meshes with an idler 14, which in turn is geared with the gear 15 secured to the shaft 16 journaled vertically in bracket 2. The lower end of this shaft 16 is provided with the-beveled 0 gear 17 which meshes with the gear 18 on the horizontal shaft 19, supported in depending arms 80, 81, from the plate. Upon the shaft 19 is secured the crank handle 20, with which and the shaft and trains of gear just described, the pulley 10 is rotated at the desired rate of speed to drive the belt in front of the plate 4 in the direction of the arrow 21 in Fig. 1.: To the rear of the plate 4 is locatedthe pressure plate 22, provided with rods 23, 23, extending into and through sleeves 24, 24, secured to the side walls-or plates 25, 26, mounted on the base plate 1. Coiled springs 27 are mounted on the rods 23 and bear between a nut 28 on the rod and the inner cap 29 of the sleeve. The outer ends of these rods are provided with adjusting nuts 30 to form a stop for the plate 22 under the pressure of the coiled springs.

Mounted on the shaft 7'is a sector plate 31 formed with a roughened edge, which rotates through .a slot 82 in the plate 4, to

contact with the mail matter, and delivers it between the belt an pressure plate. The side wall or plate 26 is extended to the extent desired to form with the bottom plate and a portion of the belt, a guiding trough for holding and feeding the mail matter 32. The inner vertical edge of this side wall 26 and the edge of the pressure plate 22 arerounded off at 33 so that the letters as they are presented on edge to the feeding belt will be shifted and slightly pushed past each other, the sector plate in its rotation feeding one letter at a time betwen the belt 11 and the pressure plate 22. v

The rounding off of the corner of the pressure plate, in order to slightly spread the letters, is quite an important detail in enabling me to obtain a proper feed, for with a sharp corner the letters are apt to be pushed back beyond the edge and held there without being fed.

Mounted vertically in the bracket 2 and base plate 1 is a shaft 34, upon which is mounted the printing cylinder 35. This printing cylinder is formed with. a longitudinal dove-tailed recess in its face in which is mounted the correspondingly dove-tailed block 36,carrying the permanent type indicating the post oflice. The type for the day of the month and the hour are mounted on v the type'to supplyink thereto.

.l'- 43 .is,theplaten roller mounted in the bifurcated framev 44,=carriediby the rod 45, loosely mounted in the'bracket-46, secured to the, plate "1. ..The platen roller '43 -is spring-pressed toward the printing cylinder by the coiled spring 47 mounted between the collar 48 and a portion of thebracket 46.

The platen roller, however, is prevented ,from touching the printing surface and thus receiving ink therefrom, when a letter is not interposed, by the nut 49 on the end of the rod 45.

In order that the letters may be fed (to the printing cylinder in proper timed relation to print the post oflice stamp and the cancelation marks in the proper place on the letter, I provide a spacing lever 50, which is pivoted at 51 to the base plate, and provided with a forwardly extending arm 52 which extends through a slot 53 in the pressure plate 22 just below the feed belt 11, across the pathway of the mail matter, while a spring 54 normally'holds the spacing lever inthis position, so that each letter is stopped by the arm 52 of the lever. Mounted on the shaft 34 is a cam 55, which in-each rotation of theshaft 34 comes in contact with the-in-.

ner end of the actuating lever .56 which lies within the pathway of the cam. This actuating lever is pivoted underneath the base plate at 57 and carries on its opposite end a pin 58, which extends through a slot 59 in the base late 1 and engages a'slot 60 in the spacing ever 50. 'It' wil be evident from this construction, that with each rotation of the shaft 34 carrying the rinting cylinder, the cam 55 will rock the ever 56 to swing the spacin passage 0? the letters, and thus with each rotation one letter at a time will be released. The parts are so adjusted that a letter will be released at the proper time to receive the stamp and cancelatlon 1n the usual place on the letter. Each letter as itis canceled is fed by the belt 11 in front of the holding plate 61. This holding plate is held in position and guided by the rod 52 secured thereto and passing through the sleeve 63 on the base plate. Mounted on the shaft 64, vertically journaled in the base plate, is a curved kicker arm 65, and this arm is rotated by the pinion 66 mounted on the shaft 64, and

lever 50 away from the feeding The machine comprises a comparatively small number of parts and works wit-h great accuracy when operated by hand or power.

In the embodiment of my machine illustrated in the drawings, I have coxwi emplated t-he use of a handcrank 20 for ahifmg the machine, but it Wlll be obvious that power by belt and pulley,'or otherwise, may be readily applied to turn the shaft 19.

In order tocanc'el the mail matter, the operator piles .up his-letters on edge, at right .angles i to theplatife i 26 and packing them against 'the bellt-"ll, with the addressed side away from thebelt and with the stamps on the lowerurcorner adjacent the plate 26. Holding the letters with one hand, he turns the crank 20 with the other. The letters being slightly spread out by the curved surface at the inner end of the side wall 26, the rotation of the sector 31 and the movement of the belt feeds one letter at a time up to the stop formed by-the arm 52 on the spacer 50. The rotation of the crank rotates the printing cylinder, and at the proper time the spacer 50 is drawn back and the'letter released to be carried by the belt between the printing cylinder and the platen. The letter is then fed in front of the rotating arm 65 and one letter at a time is piled up against the plate 1, which moves back or away as the letters pile up. The holder for theletters as they are fed to the machine being open and the distance from the contact of the feed sector to the spacer stop being suflicient, themachine will receive and cancel any of the ordinary sizes of envelops from small to large, and as the top edge of the letter is at the bottom and the right hand side edge of the letter is fed first, the

width of the envelop does not affect the cancelation, which always comes at the correct place on the envelop.

The type for the day and'time of cancelation can be very readlly changed from day to day, and as ra idly as the c linder can be rotated the mail matter can be canceled or back stamped. The platen roller 43 is never allowed to touch the surface of the printin cylinder, so the ink can never be- 70 is mounted on the shaft 19 to give steadiness to the operations of the driving pulley and gearing. In order that there shall be no interruption to the feed, it will be noted that the feeding belt is approximately one half the width of the mail matter, and that the printing devices act upon the mail below the belt.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new' and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. In an envelop printing machine, an

envelop supply compartment, arranged to support the envelops in a vertical position,

a receiving compartment for receiving the envelops when printed, an endless carrier between said compartments for feeding the envelops from one to the other, a spring pressure plate between said compartments exerting pressure toward the carrier, and between which and saidcarrier the envelops are fed, a stationary guide-plate opposite said pressure plate, along which the carrier travels, said pressure plate being of lesser height than the height of the envelops and parallel to the guide plate, a rotary printing cylinder beneath said pressure plate, its printing periphery adapted to engage a traveling envelop, and supported beneath the pressure plate, a platen cylinder opposite said printing cylinder, yieldingly supported to maintain the surface of the envelop in print-ing engagement with said cylinder, a spacing arm "projected in the path of envelop travel, to arrest its movement, a cam on the rotary printing cylinder, a swinging lever in the pathway of said cam, said lever adapted to engage with the. s acing arm to withdraw said spacing arm f i om the pathway of the envelop travel, to permit the advancement of the envelop to the printing;

cylinder in proper timed relation thereto.

2. In an envelop printing machine, a'compartment for supporting envelops to be printed, a second compartment for receiving the envelo s when printed, an endless carrier exten ing from one compartment to the other, a spring pressure plate'between said compartments exerting pressure toward the carrier, and between which plate and carrier the envelops are fed, a stationary guide plate opposite said pressure plate parallel thereto, along which the carrier travels, a rotary printing cylinder beneath said pressure plate, adapted to engage the surface of the envelop beneath the pressure plate, to print thereon, a platen roller in connection with the periphery of said printing cylinder yieldingly supported to maintain the surface of the envelop in printing engagement with the printing cylinder, with the platen roller limited in its movement to- Ward the printing cylinder, so as not to engage the periphery thereof, a spacing arm projected in the path of envelop travel to arrest its movement, a cam on the rotary printing cylinder, a swinging lever in the pathway of said cam, said lever adapted to engage with the spacing arm to withdraw said spacing arm from the pathway of the envelop travel, to permit the advancement of the envelop to the printing cylinder in proper timed relation thereto, rotatable means adapted to engage the envelops within said first-named compartment, and deliver the same to the carrier, and means adapted to engage an envelop at the end ofits travel to compile the same within the receiving compartment.

WILLIAM C. HUDDLESTON.

Attest WQ T. VomRs, C. V. Lmmm. 

